Development of the Occupational Performance Inventory of Sexuality and Intimacy (OPISI): Phase One

Background: The occupational therapy profession needs a framework to guide understanding of the occupational nature of sexuality and intimacy, assessment, intervention design, and measurement of outcomes. This study aimed to define the occupational nature of sexuality and intimacy and develop a theoretical and occupation-based screen, in-depth self-assessment, and performance measure. Method: The Occupational Performance Inventory of Sexuality and Intimacy (OPISI) was developed following DeVellis’s (2017) guidelines for scale development that involved mapping the construct, generating an item pool, determining the format for measurement, and reviewing the initial item pool. Results: The Occupational Therapy Sexual Assessment Framework (OTSAF) was developed to define the occupational nature of sexuality and intimacy, depict how the theoretical constructs intertwine with the domain of occupational therapy, and guide scale development. The OPISI includes a self-screen, in-depth self-assessment, and an individualized measure to establish baseline performance and detect self-perceived change in ability, satisfaction, understanding, and confidence in skills and ability to improve occupational performance associated with sexuality and intimacy over time. Conclusion: The OTSAF defines the occupational nature of sexuality and intimacy and informs the occupational therapy scope of practice. The OPISI includes theoretical and occupation-based tools to adequately screen, assess, and measure performance related to the complex occupational nature of sexuality and intimacy. Formal validation is needed prior to releasing the OPISI for clinical use

Oscillation pressure device for dynamic calibration of pressure transducers

Method and apparatus for obtaining dynamic calibrations of pressure transducers. A calibration head (15), a flexible tubing (23) and a bellows (20) enclose a volume of air at atmospheric pressure with a transducer (11) to be calibrated subject to the pressure inside the volume. All of the other apparatus in the drawing apply oscillations to bellows (20) causing the volume to change thereby applying oscillating pressures to transducer (11) whereby transducer (11) can be calibrated

Explaining Political Efficacy in Deliberative Procedures - A Novel Methodological Approach

So far, not much research has been done explaining the change of political efficacy in deliberative procedures, and case studies or experiments prevail in the field. Quantitative, systematic studies of real-life cases are missing. This article contributes to filling this gap. It identifies factors which lead to increased group-related political efficacy in deliberative procedures applying an almost novel method, i.e. a quantitative meta-synthesis combining and aggregating data from case studies. The study focuses exemplarily on Germany. The findings indicate that an improvement of political efficacy is more likely when deliberative procedures take place in a municipality, which has institutionalized citizens’ involvement in a local ‘participatory plan’ (‘local constitution’) and provides respective staff

A geophysical study of Mesquite Valley: Nevada-California border

This paper reports the results of a geophysical investigation of a sedimentary basin, Mesquite Valley, and its surrounding area in the Basin and Range province of the western United States. Mesquite Valley is located about 40 km south-southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, and straddles the border between Nevada and California (Figure 1). It is surrounded on three sides by mountains in which Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and Precambrian granites and gneisses crop out (Figure 1) [Burchfiel et al., 1974; Durchfiel and Davis, 1971; Hewett, 1956]. Unlike most basins in the Basin and Range province, however, there are no clearly active, range-bounding normal faults, and, in general, the surrounding topography is more subdued than in the regions farther west or north

Cyclosporin A Treatment Modulates Cytokine mRNA Expression by Inflammatory Cells Extracted from the Spinal Cord of Rats with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Induced by Inoculation with Myelin Basic Protein

In Lewis rats, treatment with high doses of cyclosporin A (CsA) suppresses clinical signs of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), although disease occurs when treatment is ceased. Treatment with low doses of CsA causes EAE to take a chronic relapsing course. We have previously shown that CsA treatment causes a decline in the number of T cells and increased inflammatory cell apoptosis in the spinal cord. The present study was undertaken to assess whether CsA therapy also modulates cytokine mRNA expression by inflammatory cells in the spinal cord of rats with EAE, looking for changes that might contribute to the observed effects of CsA on the course of EAE. EAE was induced in Lewis rats by inoculation with myelin basic protein and adjuvants. At the peak of neurological signs, on day 14 after inoculation, rats were given a single intraperitoneal injection of saline, or CsA at a dose of 8, 16, 32 or 64 mg/kg. The next day, rats were sacrificed, the spinal cords removed, inflammatory cells were extracted from the cords, and mRNA isolated from these cells. Expression of cytokine mRNA was assessed by semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by quantitative real-time PCR. With both techniques, we found that CsA suppressed the expression of interferon-gamma mRNA and interleukin-2 (IL-2) mRNA. With real-time PCR, we found that CsA caused significantly increased expression of transforming growth factor-beta mRNA. With the different techniques, we observed no consistent pattern of alteration of expression of interleukin-10 or interleukin-4 mRNA. It is possible that these changes in cytokine mRNA expression contribute to the modulation of the clinical course of EAE that is produced by CsA treatment

Engineering of a calcium-ion binding site into the RC-LH1-PufX complex of Rhodobacter sphaeroides to enable ion-dependent spectral red-shifting

The reaction centre-light harvesting 1 (RC-LH1) complex of Thermochromatium (Tch.) tepidum has a unique calcium-ion binding site that enhances thermal stability and red-shifts the absorption of LH1 from 880 nm to 915 nm in the presence of calcium-ions. The LH1 antenna of mesophilic species of phototrophic bacteria such as Rhodobacter (Rba.) sphaeroides does not possess such properties. We have engineered calcium-ion binding into the LH1 antenna of Rba. sphaeroides by progressively modifying the native LH1 polypeptides with sequences from Tch. tepidum. We show that acquisition of the C-terminal domains from LH1 α and β of Tch. tepidum is sufficient to activate calcium-ion binding and the extent of red-shifting increases with the proportion of Tch. tepidum sequence incorporated. However, full exchange of the LH1 polypeptides with those of Tch. tepidum results in misassembled core complexes. Isolated α and β polypeptides from our most successful mutant were reconstituted in vitro with BChl a to form an LH1-type complex, which was stabilised 3-fold by calcium-ions. Additionally, carotenoid specificity was changed from spheroidene found in Rba. sphaeroides to spirilloxanthin found in Tch. tepidum, with the latter enhancing in vitro formation of LH1. These data show that the C-terminal LH1 α/β domains of Tch. tepidum behave autonomously, and are able to transmit calcium-ion induced conformational changes to BChls bound to the rest of a foreign antenna complex. Thus, elements of foreign antenna complexes, such as calcium-ion binding and blue/red switching of absorption, can be ported into Rhodobacter sphaeroides using careful design processes

The Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) Challenge 2023: Brain MR Image Synthesis for Tumor Segmentation (BraSyn)

Automated brain tumor segmentation methods have become well-established and reached performance levels offering clear clinical utility. These methods typically rely on four input magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities: T1-weighted images with and without contrast enhancement, T2-weighted images, and FLAIR images. However, some sequences are often missing in clinical practice due to time constraints or image artifacts, such as patient motion. Consequently, the ability to substitute missing modalities and gain segmentation performance is highly desirable and necessary for the broader adoption of these algorithms in the clinical routine. In this work, we present the establishment of the Brain MR Image Synthesis Benchmark (BraSyn) in conjunction with the Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) 2023. The primary objective of this challenge is to evaluate image synthesis methods that can realistically generate missing MRI modalities when multiple available images are provided. The ultimate aim is to facilitate automated brain tumor segmentation pipelines. The image dataset used in the benchmark is diverse and multi-modal, created through collaboration with various hospitals and research institutions.Comment: Technical report of BraSy